News & views from the American Coalition for Ethanol.

August 18, 2009

Leading ethanol companies are making cellulosic ethanol happen today

Three leading companies spoke at the ACE Ethanol Conference during a panel discussion on cellulosic ethanol. Range Fuels was represented by Bill Schafer, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Government Affairs.

Range Fuels was formed in July 2006 by Khosla Ventures and broke ground in November 2007 at its cellulosic ethanol facility in Soperton, Georgia. This month, the company expects to be 50 percent done with construction. Construction is expected to be complete during the first quarter of next year, and they will be producing cellulosic ethanol at a commercial scale in 2010.

The Soperton facility is permitted to up to 100 million gallons of ethanol per year. Range Fuels' technology converts the biomass into syntehsis gas, and in phase two the gas is cleaned up and converted into ethanol. They also have a module for the co-generation of power, which Schafer noted has a pretty dramatic impact on your lifecycle GHG emissions.

Range Fuels uses a thermochemical process rather than a biochemical process because it's more flexible on feedstocks, yields are better because there's no lignin separation, and it presents a lot of product options because of the syngas. Range Fuels is using wood as its source of biomass, a commodity they believe offers superior price stability. Their location is in the middle of the timber belt and study as shown it is a good location because it will have minimal impact on existing indutries and supplies. In phase 1 the company will use pulpwood and mill residuals, in phase two pre-commercial thinnings and in-forest residue, and eventually in phase 3 herbaceous energy crops.

"There are a lot of moving parts out there and it's difficult to get that legislative clarity today that we'd like to get, but what isn't in doubt is that there's a huge push behind this," Schafer said. "The benefits that can be realized through this industry are in high demand."

"We've been making excellent progress," Berven said. "We're very excited about the future of cellulosic biomass."

This year POET is planning 25,000 acres of corn cob harvest to meet the needs of Project Liberty, its cellulosic biorefinery being added to its existing corn-based ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. They are working with ag equipment companies and with farmers on adding cob collection to the farmers' annual corn harvest. This year four cob harvesting methods will be unveiled. Next year 100,000 acres and 70,000 tons of cobs will be collected.

POET is producing cellulosic ethanol today at its pilot plant in Scotland, South Dakota. By June of this year they report achieving a five-fold reduction in enzyme cost, putting the current total process cost at one dollar per gallon greater than that of the company's corn-based ethanol.

"The thing that stands in the way more than anything else is market development," Berven said. "We are in total agreement with what Brian (Jennings) said the other day that blender pumps are the future in this country. The blend wall is holding up potential investment in cellulosic ethanol."

TMO Renewables Inc. of the United Kingdom was represented by Associate Director of Engineering Jason Robinson. The company has designed and built the UK's first demonstration facility for cellulosic ethanol and aims to license its technology and process to the U.S. market. TMO's platform is a flexible and scalable industrial system, low energy costs, low enzyme requirements, short process times (hours, not days), and an operational demo facility with a fully integrated process.

TMO's demonstration plant has been operational since June 2008, and it's fully staffed running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"You can't just offer the industry a tin can of organisms or a portion of the process. You really need to offer the client a fully integrated process," Robinson said.

They report having achieved a higher amount of dry solids, which translates into much lower energy costs. TMO's process can fully utilize the biomass' sugars in less than 8 hours, unlike the 50-70 hours common in other processes. The organism they use for conversion is "thermophilic" - it likes heat - and can convert the biomass to sugar quickly without contamination issues. Also, no antiobiotics are added to the process.

Robinson says the company is looking at "captive" feedstocks like distillers grain or corn fiber, which can take harvesting and all the transportation issues out of the mix.

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Leading ethanol companies are making cellulosic ethanol happen today

Three leading companies spoke at the ACE Ethanol Conference during a panel discussion on cellulosic ethanol. Range Fuels was represented by Bill Schafer, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Government Affairs.

Range Fuels was formed in July 2006 by Khosla Ventures and broke ground in November 2007 at its cellulosic ethanol facility in Soperton, Georgia. This month, the company expects to be 50 percent done with construction. Construction is expected to be complete during the first quarter of next year, and they will be producing cellulosic ethanol at a commercial scale in 2010.

The Soperton facility is permitted to up to 100 million gallons of ethanol per year. Range Fuels' technology converts the biomass into syntehsis gas, and in phase two the gas is cleaned up and converted into ethanol. They also have a module for the co-generation of power, which Schafer noted has a pretty dramatic impact on your lifecycle GHG emissions.

Range Fuels uses a thermochemical process rather than a biochemical process because it's more flexible on feedstocks, yields are better because there's no lignin separation, and it presents a lot of product options because of the syngas. Range Fuels is using wood as its source of biomass, a commodity they believe offers superior price stability. Their location is in the middle of the timber belt and study as shown it is a good location because it will have minimal impact on existing indutries and supplies. In phase 1 the company will use pulpwood and mill residuals, in phase two pre-commercial thinnings and in-forest residue, and eventually in phase 3 herbaceous energy crops.

"There are a lot of moving parts out there and it's difficult to get that legislative clarity today that we'd like to get, but what isn't in doubt is that there's a huge push behind this," Schafer said. "The benefits that can be realized through this industry are in high demand."

"We've been making excellent progress," Berven said. "We're very excited about the future of cellulosic biomass."

This year POET is planning 25,000 acres of corn cob harvest to meet the needs of Project Liberty, its cellulosic biorefinery being added to its existing corn-based ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. They are working with ag equipment companies and with farmers on adding cob collection to the farmers' annual corn harvest. This year four cob harvesting methods will be unveiled. Next year 100,000 acres and 70,000 tons of cobs will be collected.

POET is producing cellulosic ethanol today at its pilot plant in Scotland, South Dakota. By June of this year they report achieving a five-fold reduction in enzyme cost, putting the current total process cost at one dollar per gallon greater than that of the company's corn-based ethanol.

"The thing that stands in the way more than anything else is market development," Berven said. "We are in total agreement with what Brian (Jennings) said the other day that blender pumps are the future in this country. The blend wall is holding up potential investment in cellulosic ethanol."

TMO Renewables Inc. of the United Kingdom was represented by Associate Director of Engineering Jason Robinson. The company has designed and built the UK's first demonstration facility for cellulosic ethanol and aims to license its technology and process to the U.S. market. TMO's platform is a flexible and scalable industrial system, low energy costs, low enzyme requirements, short process times (hours, not days), and an operational demo facility with a fully integrated process.

TMO's demonstration plant has been operational since June 2008, and it's fully staffed running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"You can't just offer the industry a tin can of organisms or a portion of the process. You really need to offer the client a fully integrated process," Robinson said.

They report having achieved a higher amount of dry solids, which translates into much lower energy costs. TMO's process can fully utilize the biomass' sugars in less than 8 hours, unlike the 50-70 hours common in other processes. The organism they use for conversion is "thermophilic" - it likes heat - and can convert the biomass to sugar quickly without contamination issues. Also, no antiobiotics are added to the process.

Robinson says the company is looking at "captive" feedstocks like distillers grain or corn fiber, which can take harvesting and all the transportation issues out of the mix.